The last image ever taken from NASA's now-dead Kepler telescope captured the full field of view of the iconic telescope.

It reveals a wealth of stars visible in the sky on September 25 2018, before it finally ran out of fuel five days later.

Kepler's swansong came nearly decade after it beamed back its first ever image to NASA headquarters on April 8 2009.

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The last image (pictured) ever taken from NASA's now-dead Kepler telescope captured the full field of view of the iconic telescope. It reveals a wealth of stars visible in the sky on September 25 2018 before it finally ran out of fuel five days later

Kepler's mission was originally earmarked to last 3.5 years but stringent use of fuel enabled it to remain operational for 9 years, 7 months and 23 days.

Its mission was to scour the skies, both near and far, in the search for planets orbiting other stars.

Kepler discovered more than 2,600 worlds beyond our solar system and statistically proved that the Milky Way is home to more planets than stars.

It was made of 42 image sensors called charged coupled devices (CCDs)and each one had a resolution of 1,024 by 2,200 pixels

Some of these had failed since its inception, leading to black spots in the last image.

'For this final field of view, Kepler's last observation campaign in its extended mission, the telescope was pointed in the direction of the constellation Aquarius,' wrote NASA's Alison Hawkes.

'It caught a glimpse of the renowned TRAPPIST-1 system with its seven rocky planets, at least three of them believed to be temperate worlds.

'Another target was the GJ 9827 system, a nearby bright star that hosts a planet that is considered an excellent opportunity for follow up observations with other telescopes to study an atmosphere of a faraway world.'

Kepler survived long enough for its successor, TESS, to become operational.

There was a period of a few months where both were working and scanning for exoplanets.

Kepler's swansong image (right) came nearly decade after it beamed back its first ever image to NASA headquarters on April 8 2009 (left)

It was made of 42 image sensors called charged coupled devices (CCDs)and each one had a resolution of 1,024 by 2,200 pixels Some of these had failed since its inception, leading to black spots in the last image

It was the first spacecraft to survey the planets in our own galaxy, and over the years its observations confirmed the existence of more than 2,600 exoplanets - many of which could be key targets in the search for alien life.

Before Kepler, astronomers had never found any planets outside of the solar system.

'As NASA's first planet-hunting mission, Kepler has wildly exceeded all our expectations and paved the way for our exploration and search for life in the solar system and beyond,' said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

'Not only did it show us how many planets could be out there, it sparked an entirely new and robust field of research that has taken the science community by storm,' Zurbuchen said.

'Its discoveries have shed a new light on our place in the universe, and illuminated the tantalising mysteries and possibilities among the stars.'

Kepler successfully transmitted data from its final observation campaign back to Earth at the beginning of October. All of this is now in the archive and publicly available, the Kepler team says.

Kepler was the first spacecraft to survey the planets in our own galaxy, and over the years its observations confirmed the existence of more than 2,600 exoplanets - many of which could be key targets in the search for alien life